The Maddox Family
by Another Terrible Author
Summary: Ten months after solving the Nighthowler Conspiracy, crime in Zootopia has reached an all-time low. However, chaos ensues when a string of kidnappings, conducted by a cult following the mysterious criminal known only as Maddox, takes Zootopia by storm. With the ZPD left clueless, Nick and Judy take matters into their own hands, but learn that's what the Family wanted all along...
1. Chapter 1

It was a dark and stormy night. Within the halls of Oxborn Manor, the final confrontation between the handsome and famous Detective Grizzles and all of his suspects was taking place.

" _So here we stand in the Accusing Parlor..._ " noted Detective Grizzles, the bear casually blowing smoke rings from his pipe. " _Because one of you shall be accused of **eating** the esteemed Mr. Oxborn..."  
_

Thunder clapped in the background as everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably, from Mr. Oxborn's most trusted business partner to his two-year old grandson.

 _"Who ever could it be?_ " wailed Mrs. Oxborn, still cloaked her funeral garb. " _What_ monster _could have eaten my dear husband?"_

" _I shall tell you, m'lady_!" Grizzles paced slowly around the room, eyeing each and every one of Oxborn's relatives and employees. " _It was a clever scheme... almost too clever, really, but not clever enough to match my cleverness! For you see, all the evidence all ties in with one person in this room, and that one person, that one evil, despicable, dastardly fiend is-"_

"It's the butler," Nick said flatly, shoveling more popcorn into his mouth.

"How can you be sure?" Judy asked. "It could have been his wife, or his greedy nephew, or-"

" _JEEVES!_ " Grizzles exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger toward the old, frail-looking wolf.

"Told ya'." Nick yawned and idly checked the time on his phone.

"Huh..." Judy paused for a moment. "That... was actually pretty clever!" she said excitedly. "Because the handkerchief and the pocket watch were both gifts from-"

"'Clever?'" Nick eyed Judy incredulously. "You're kidding right? Nothing about this was clever! That 'twist' could've been seen a mile away by a mole with myopia! And when Grizzles and Dr. Fawn had that argument in the third act? It was so contrived I could barely stand it! And you knew they were going to get back together in the next scene because this guy decided to play every single cliché in the book completely straight-faced!"

"Well, _I_ thought the twist was pretty well done," Judy said, folding her arms defiantly. "And the argument was actually justified and essential to the plot."

Nick looked as if he was about to try and argue, but sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his muzzle. "Orson Hitchcock won _how many_ White Tail awards for this movie, exactly?"

"Three," Judy replied proudly. "Best Leading Actor, Best Director, _and_ Best Picture. _The Shawskunk Redemption'_ s gonna earn him another this year, too."

"Ten bucks says he doesn't even get nominated," Nick challenged.

"Twenty says he wins," Judy said smugly. "Best Picture _and_ Best Actor."

"You're on."

" _Ahem_."

Nick and Judy turned from their seats to face the stern, imposing figure of an all-too familiar cape buffalo.

"Cheif Bogo, my buddy!" Nick exclaimed, spreading his arms as if expecting a hug. "How are ya' tonight?"

"Don't call me that," Bogo snorted. "First off; you might as well give Hopps the money now, because you know Hitchcock wins every year no matter how terrible his movies are."

"See, Nick? Even Bogo thinks he's - _hey_!"

"Second; you're supposed to be getting ready to go on patrol, _not watching television in the break room_!" he shouted.

"Aw, Chief you're breaking my heart here," Nick said, pouting unconvincingly. "Don't you think Zootopia's finest deserve a little break after solving a city-wide conspiracy? I got shot, you know!"

"With a blueberry..." Judy added dryly.

"Still got shot."

"That was _ten months_ ago!" Bogo snapped. "Now get your tails out of here before I drag you into that cruiser myself!"

Nick let out a loud yawn. "Alight, alright. Not like I need much convincing to abandon a Hitchcock marathon," he said, standing up and stretching his arms.

Noticing Bogo's doubtful glare, Judy stood up and saluted. "Don't worry, sir. We'll be three miles out of Savanna Central before you even realize we're gone!" she enthusiastically declared.

"Good." With a final grunt of approval, Bogo stepped out of the break room and into the brightly lit hallways of the ZPD. Nick switched off the TV.

"Well, you heard the Chief," he said, walking briskly toward the door with a wry smile plastered to his face. "Time to get to work."

"Weren't you just trying to get _out_ of working tonight?" Judy asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. "Since when were you so eager to go on patrol, anyway?"

"Since you convinced me to sit through the entirety of _The Wolf of the Whiskervilles_ ," he said as the two of them walked into the hall. "While on duty, no less. For shame, Judy!"

"Shut up," Judy said, jabbing him in the rib. "You're the one who told me we had time, anyhow..."

"Speaking of time," Nick said, rubbing out the crease Judy's elbow left in his uniform. "We're gonna have plenty of it this weekend. Thought it might actually be fun to go see a _decent_ movie."

"Maybe we could try the _Nightmare on Elk Street_ remake?" Judy suggested. "The original was always one of my favorites."

"No chance, Carrots. We're seeing _Spider Ham 2_."

* * *

Judy and Nick clocked out around two in the morning, after an absolutely miserable patrol. They had been assigned to Sahara Square, Judy's least favorite district to visit, let alone aimlessly ride around in for four hours. As if sweltering hot days weren't bad enough, at night the district literally became as cold as Tundratown. Even with a thick jacket and the squad car's heaters turned all the way up Judy still found herself shivering from the persistent chill.

"At least you didn't have to get out of the car to get the coffee," Nick said on their walk home.

"You drank half of mine and let it get cold!" Judy complained.

Nick tisked softly. "You're such a whiner." Judy responded by swiftly punching him in the arm. "Correction; an _abusive_ whiner. Is it still police brutality if you're off-duty?"

"Technically. What are you gonna do, arrest me?"

"Nah, I think I'll just eat you."

"Pretty sure that's more illegal than me punching you."

"Well, you hit me twice today, and I think two counts of assault against an officer is equally illegal as eating someone."

"You're unbelievable."

Nick and Judy went back and forwards like this almost every day. Although the two had only known each other for a few months, they acted as if they'd been friends their whole lives, spending almost every waking moment together, only separating to go home, or more rarely, when work required them to split up for a while. They continued to joke and bicker with each other until they reached Judy's apartment building.

"This is my stop," Judy said, stepping into the doorway. "'night, Nick. Hope you get mugged on the way home."

"And I hope you trip down the stairs and break your neck," Nick replied, lazily saluting her as he continued down the sidewalk. "Sweet dreams, Carrots."

Providing an equally lazy wave goodbye, Judy entered the complex and headed toward the stairwell, eager to get to her tiny apartment. Moving her feet up the concrete steps became more and more difficult a task as she moved upwards, though the real struggle was keeping her eyes open long enough to even see where she was going. _Sleep sounds really nice right about now_ , she thought. _Shame Nick's probably gonna wake me up at like nine again because he's bored or something._

After what seemed like an eternity, Judy finally reached her apartment on the third floor, and was pleasantly surprised by the silence. Normally, her neighbors would be screaming at each other the entire night, but it seemed like they wore themselves out early. "As soon as I'm out of this uniform," she said to herself. "I'm going to- what the?" She blinked. She rubbed her eyes and looked at her apartment again.

The front door was wide open.

Judy tentatively peered inside her room, and a weak gasp escaped her throat. What few possessions she had were scattered across the floor, her bed and desk in splinters, the window shattered, and her spare uniforms strewn across the room. But it wasn't the destruction that made her stomach knot up so tight she felt like being sick.

On the wall, written messily in thick, black marker, was a message:

 _ **PREY WILL PAY  
**_

 _ **FEAR MADDOX**_

Judy thought the world had moved on, that this sort of thing would never happen again.

She wanted to cry.

* * *

The response from the ZPD was almost immediate. The operator told her over the phone that practically half the department volunteered to come out. In the end, only two officers, accompanied by Bogo himself, arrived at the scene.

Nick sat beside her in the hall as the officers investigated the area and interviewed the other tenants. She didn't bother asking how he found out, despite having not said a word to him. Neither of them spoke, but that was alright with Judy; simply having him with her made her feel more calm, more sure that things would be okay.

In the midst of her thoughts, Bogo walked up to her, a notebook and pen in his hooves. "We've managed to place the time of the break-in at around midnight," he said. "One of the tenants witnessed a suspicious figure on this floor around that time, but didn't get a good look at them. All they said was they were a medium-size canine or feline. Possibly a hyena or jackal."

"You get anything from the other tenants?" Judy inquired.

"The Oryx-Antlersons say they were too busy arguing at the time to notice anything suspicious," Bogo responded, looking over his notes. He flipped the page and a gave snort of annoyance. "And everyone else says they were too distracted by the Oryx-Antlersons' arguing to notice anything either... So, no, we don't have anything."

"What about the message?" Nick asked.

"We don't have anything on it at the moment," Bogo said, "But we'll look over it back at the station and see if we can identify who or what this 'Maddox' is. Might be other case files that could help."

Judy looked morosely over her apartment. The officers had moved some of the debris out of the way, but broken glass and splinters of wood still littered the room. "This is going take forever to clean up..." she groaned.

"I'll give you an additional day off after we finish here. Just to help you get things back together," Bogo said. "Full pay, even. You don't deserve to be treated this way after what you've done for this city."

"Thanks, Chief," Judy said, smiling weakly. "I really appreciate it."

"No trouble. We're going to be here a while, so I recommend booking a hotel room or find someone willing to take you in for a few nights."

The second Bogo finished his sentence, Nick eagerly exclaimed, "She could bunk with me!" Judy and Bogo gave him a curious look. "Er, I-I mean, if that's ... acceptable..." he stammered, ears flattened against his head.

"It's fine! I'm okay with it!" Judy said, noticing his discomfort. "I just... didn't expect you to offer, is all." _At least not so quickly,_ she thought.

"Whatever works," Bogo said gruffly. "I expect to see you at the station on Monday, Wilde. Hopps was the one who's home was broken into, not yours."

"Got it," Nick replied. Bogo looked as if he were expecting some sort of smart-alec remark from him, almost seeming surprised when he remained silent. Shrugging, Bogo walked away toward the other officers.

Judy turned to Nick. His usual self-sure smile was replaced by a sullen, gloomy-looking expression, as if he were attending a funeral. "Are you alright, Nick?" she asked, placing a paw on his shoulder. "You're not yourself."

"I should be asking you that," Nick said. "I mean, this was obviously a hate-crime. What if you were home when whoever did this showed up?"

"I would have kicked his tail?" Judy suggested, forcing out a chuckle. "I was top of my class, remember? I literally knocked out a _rhino_ during a sparing match; I think I could've taken whoever this was. _"_

Nick stared at her, unconvinced. "C'mon, Nick," she said, nudging him lightly. "It's not like you to worry so much. Let's just head to your place and get some sleep. I'll even go see that dorky _Spider_ _Ham_ movie with you tomorrow."

Nick smirked. "Did the Orson Hitchcock fan really just call _Spider Ham_ 'dorky'?"

Judy slugged him in the arm again.

* * *

 **Author's Ramblings:**

The first chapter is always the most difficult to write, I swear... Probably didn't help that I decided to make it over 2,000 words long. Despite that, writing this was pretty fun. Zootopia's one of the best films Disney's released in a long while, so I couldn't help but write something for it. The fact that it's an absolute gold-mine for puns doesn't hurt, either.

Critiques are greatly appreciated. Seriously, go all out me; I already know I'm bad, but I just need to know _why_ I'm bad. After all, if I don't know what I'm doing wrong in the first place, how the hell am I gonna fix it?

 **EDIT:** Fixed a few typos, as pointed out by a review. See? The system works!


	2. Chapter 2

There Nick was, walking down the street at four in the morning, Judy trailing behind him with a suitcase in her paw. All because he _had_ to offer to let her stay over.

His ears reddened at the memory. Why did he blurt it out so fast, so desperately? _Because_ _you're worried_ _about her_ , he assured himself. _Your best friend's been the victim of a hate crime; you have every right to be worried about her.  
_

"I just realized I've never actually been to your place," Judy said suddenly. "What's it like?"

"Small," Nick shrugged. "Not as nearly as small as your apartment, but small."

"Sparing no details, aren't we?"

"Shut up, I'm tired."

They continued down the sidewalk until they reached an old-looking condominium.

"Thought you lived in an apartment," Judy said as they walked through the door.

"Never said I did," Nick replied.

They walked down the hall until they stopped at door number nine. Nick unlocked the door and swung it open. The furnishings were somewhat sparse, the living room consisting solely of a couch, coffee table, and an old TV, leaving it surprisingly spacious. A humble kitchen sat in the back, along with a small table and chairs acting as a dining area.

"Like I said, it's small," Nick said. "Other than me, the only person who ever comes over is Finnick, so I never really bothered to decorate, either."

"Or clean, it seems..." Judy noted.

Nick's ears fell flat against his head. "W-well, if I knew you were coming over..." he stammered.

Judy snickered. "Relax, Nick, I'm joking," she said, affectionately pushing him. "I actually like it here. It's a heck of a lot nicer than my place."

"Remind me why you're still living in that dump?" Nick asked.

"It was the only thing I could afford when I moved in, and my lease isn't up yet, so I'm stuck there for another few months, probably even with the break-in..." Judy sighed. "Speaking of, how exactly are you paying for this? Even the cheapest inner-city condos I've seen go for over two hundred thousand dollars."

"This place was already pretty cheap, but I managed to haggle the price down a bit when I found a 'squatter' had made himself a little laboratory here," Nick said, smiling coyly. "In exchange for cleaning up and keeping my mouth shut to the other residents and the police, they cut the tag by fifty thousand bucks."

Judy glared at him. "That doesn't sound like haggling as much as it does blackmail, Nick."

"Details," he scoffed. "Anyway, make yourself at home. It'll be a while before the boys in blue finish up, so get comfy."

Judy looked around, seeming a bit clueless. "So... where exactly am I staying?" she asked.

"There's only one bedroom," Nick said apologetically. "You alright with sleeping on the couch?"

"Sure," she said, setting her suitcase down. "At this point I'd settle for the floor if I needed to..."

"Now there's an idea..."

Judy collapsed on the coach. "If I weren't so tired I'd hit you again."

"Love you, too Carrots," Nick said, ducking into his bedroom. "Hey, you want first dibs on a shower?" he called out. No response. "Judy?"

Nick peeked his head out the door. The rabbit was already snoring lightly, half her body limply hanging from the side of the sofa. A light smile spread across his lips. "Suppose it's been a long day," he said to himself. Quickly grabbing a spare blanket and pillow, he gently covered her up and placed the pillow beneath her head. "Sweet dreams, Carrots," he yawned, promptly returning to his room and plopping down on his bed, not even bothering to turn the light off.

* * *

Judy's eyes fluttered open. For a moment, she wondered why she was staring at Nick's television instead of the wall of her apartment, but quickly recalled the previous night. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Nick was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping from a cup of coffee and staring at his phone.

"About time you woke up," he said. "I was fixing to call the coroner."

"What time is it?" she yawned, stretching her arms out.

"Quarter 'til one," Nick said. "Don't feel bad, I only got up about fifteen minutes ago myself."

"Can't believe I slept in my uniform," she muttered.

"Help yourself to anything in the fridge when you're hungry," Nick said. "There's a fresh pot of coffee, too."

"Shower, clothes, then food," Judy said, stepping into the bathroom.

After taking a quick shower and changing into a set of clean clothes, Judy felt remarkably refreshed, and turned her attention to her empty stomach. Nick made it clear in the past that he didn't like insects or fish, so it didn't come as a surprise that his fridge was filled with nothing but fruits and vegetables. Regardless, she always found it curious that a predator lived on a strictly vegetarian diet. She randomly picked out an apple, grabbed a mug of coffee, and sat down beside Nick at the table.

"So, any plans for today?" she asked.

"Not really," Nick shrugged. "Although you did promise to go see _Spider Ham_ with me," he added with a smirk.

"It should be illegal to force people to keep promises they made while sleep-deprived..." Judy muttered.

 _ **Knock, knock, knock.**_

"I'll go get that," Nick said, removing himself from the table. "I was thinking about the five o'clock showing, by the way."

"I hate you sometimes," Judy groaned.

Nick opened the door. To his confusion, it's seemed like nobody was there. "Long time no see, huh Nicky?" said a deep, gruff voice from below. Nick looked down to see a tiny, peevish-looking Fennec fox on his doorstep. "Too busy for your old pal Finnick?"

"Now that I have a rabbit following me around almost twenty-four-seven, pretty much." Nick stepped aside and let him inside, where he made a beeline for the couch and sat down.

"Hey, Finnick," Judy said in between mouthfuls of apple.

"What'chu doin' here, Cottontail? You two finally hook up or somethin'?" Judy nearly choked, while Nick already had his paws around the Fennec's neck. "Geez man, lighten up!" he snickered, pushing Nick's paws away. "I _know_ 'bout her apartment gettin' trashed."

"You do?" Judy tilted her head. "How?"

"It was on the news this morning." he said. "Mentioned it alongside the kidnappings."

Nick and Judy stared blankly at Finnick. "What?" they asked, almost simultaneously.

"You don't know?" They shook their heads. "Huh. Kinda thought you'd be on top this, bein' cops n' all."

"It's our weekend off, and we slept past noon," Nick said defensively. "Now, what's this about kidnappings?"

"Twenty-three animals were taken from their homes last night," Finnick said, pulling out his phone. "Have a look."

Nick took the phone and skimmed the article. "Farley Sathers, Zebra, age 47, taken from his home in Savannah Central. Signs of forced entry, furniture and possessions vandalized..." He swallowed. "And a threatening message written on the wall referring to a 'Maddox'..." He and Judy exchanged concerned glances. "They're all like this," Nick said, scrolling down. "The victims are different prey species from different districts, but everything else is the same."

"Do they have any suspects? Clues?" Judy inquired.

"Nope, but that's exactly why I'm here," Finnick said staunchly. "I think I know someone who knows what's goin' on here."

"So, why aren't you reporting it to the ZPD?" Judy asked.

"'cause I already gotta plan," Finnick replied. "Don't need some by-the-books moron messin' things up."

Nick gave him a doubtful glare. "And what sort of plan would this be?"

"A good one," he said. "But you gotta' agree before I tell you, 'cause you ain't gonna like it."

"You're kidding, right?" Nick scoffed. "Do you really think either of us are gonna' fall for-"

"Alright, let's hear it."

Nick's jaw nearly hit the floor. "I'm sorry, but _what?!_ "

"I want to hear Finnick's plan," Judy said. "He says he has a lead on these kidnappings, so we should hear him out."

"Give us a moment," Nick said, pulling Judy into the kitchen. "Judy, you're not seriously considering this, are you?" he whispered.

"Yes, I am," she said, folding her arms. "Worst case scenario, we don't get put on the case officially, but at least we contribute something to the investigation."

"Worst case scenario, we're _murdered_ by the same guys who kidnapped all those animals!" he hissed. "Most likely scenario, Finnick's trying to trick us into helping him with some sort of scam."

"These ears ain't just for show, Nicky!" Finnick shouted.

"I don't care!" Nick retorted. "Carrots, this is a _bad_ idea. We should really just sit this one out."

"I'm not going to stand around when there's a potential lead here," Judy said firmly. "Besides, this is personal."

"Judy, you're not risking your hide over an overpriced, moldy apartment, are you?"

"No," she said. "I'm doing this because you're more worried about this than I am. Back at my apartment, I was comforting _you_ because you wouldn't stop worrying about me. If there's any chance of me being able to help you get back to being yourself, I'm going with Finnick to find whoever's responsible for it in the first place."

Nick let out a deep, defeated sigh. "Fine," he said. "But the instant things start to get heated, we abort; got it?"

"Got it," Judy nodded. She walked back toward Finnick. "So, what's this plan of yours?"

Finnick smirked. "Have a seat," he said. "This might take a while..."

* * *

 **Author's Ramblings:**

Finnick seems like an asshole. I like him.

This was fully intended to be released yesterday, but I decided at the last minute to rewrite pretty much half the chapter because the pacing was horrible, even by my standards. Hopefully, the end result is less horrible than what it originally was.

Also, I would like to thank you guys for your support for this story. It's almost kinda surreal having random strangers on the Internet praise and critique my writing, but it's a good kind of surreal.

As usual, leave a review if you want to see me suck less at this whole 'writing' thing.


	3. Chapter 3

"You know, you were wrong about me not liking this plan," Nick said. "Because in reality, _I_ _hate_ _it._ "

He and Judy sat in the back of Finnick's van, covered head to toe in white fur dye. The acrid, chemical odor of the dye filled the air, making Nick's nose scrunch up and his eyes water, and the constant shaking of the van was making him nauseous. Even Judy, silent though she was, looked quite uncomfortable, sitting stiffly with her paws in her lap as she tried to avoid touching the filthy surfaces of the van's interior.

"Quit bein' a baby," Finnick scoffed. "It washes off."

"One of _many_ problems with this plan, considering we're going to the _Rainforest_ District," Nick said sourly. "Another being that I'm nearly twice the size of an actual arctic fox, and Judy's not big enough to be any sort of hare!"

"These ain't the kinda' people to notice little things like that," Finnick replied with a smirk.

"What about the smell?" Judy asked.

"It'll air out. And if it doesn't, these ain't the kinda' people to notice little things like that," Finnick replied in the same tone.

Nick let out a deep breath. "So, still confident that Finnick isn't pulling our tails?" he whispered to Judy.

"Well..." She nearly jumped out of her seat as the van backfired. "No... but we still gotta try!" She smiled weakly.

"Admire your dedication, Carrots, but I really don't think your 'try everything' motto applies well to this situation," he muttered. "I mean, what are the odds of a suspect asking specifically to meet up with an arctic hare and an arctic fox at a night club in the Rainforest District? Seems kinda' contrived."

"We're here!" Finnick announced, stopping the van suddenly enough to nearly launch Nick and Judy out of their seats.

Recovering from the recoil, Nick looked out the windshield. Directly in front of them was a colossal tree, with lights of every hue spilling out the windows, turning the dark jungle canopy into a kaleidoscope of color. Even from a good distance away, the music was powerful enough to make the van throb slightly with every beat.

"Wow..." Judy awed, staring wide-eyed at the view.

Even Nick had to admit the scene was breathtaking. "I've never seen so much color in one place..." he murmured.

"Welcome to the Understory," Finnick said. "Pretty on the outside, but rotten to the core. The fuzz would have a field day if they knew all what went on here." He turned off the van and removed the key. "Guy we're looking for is a mouse named Dampé. Former judge for the White Tail Awards. Apparently lived in Little Rodentia until _someone_ trashed his place and told him to get out, so he moved out here."

"And you think this 'someone' is Maddox?" Judy inquired.

"Bingo." Finnick opened the door and stepped out, motioning for them to follow.

Nick opened the door and let Judy out, following closely behind her. The moment his feet touched the ground, Nick's entire body vibrated with the music, the strange sensation only intensifying as they approached the tree.

"Sweet cheese and crackers, there must be at least a hundred animals waiting in that line!" Judy said. True to her word, a long line of all sorts of animals sat in front of the entrance, excitedly clamoring about getting inside. Most of them were dressed in loud, neon colors, though it was difficult to tell with the lights from the tree itself dancing across them. A large, muscular jaguar dressed in a black shirt and pants stood stoically by the door, letting people in one-by-one at a leisurely pace.

"Oh gee, that looks like it's gonna' take a while!" Nick exclaimed, starting to turn around. "I guess we should try this again some other time! How about _never_?"

"I got it covered," Finnick said simply, smirking as Nick growled in protest. He walked serenely up to the front of the line, ignoring dirty looks and a few threats from some of the other patrons, and waved at the bouncer. "How's it hangin', Raul?"

"Hey, Finnick," the jaguar replied, waving back lazily. He looked up at Nick and Judy. "Who're these guys?" he asked, pointing at them. Nick couldn't help but notice how sharp his claws looked.

"They're with me," Finnick said. "We've got business inside."

Raul eyed them suspiciously. His claws flexed in and out of paws, his gaze focused mainly on Nick, who could only manage a nervous smile. "Alright. Head on in," he shrugged.

They walked through the door unimpeded, though Nick could practically feel the resentment radiating from the animals still in line.

"Scared by the big bad jaguar, Nicky?" Judy giggled, nudging him slightly.

"I'm hating this more and more with each passing moment..." Nick groaned.

Another door separated them from the main dance floor. Finnick put a paw on the handle and paused for a moment. "Listen to me," he said firmly. "Don't say anything, touch anything, or go anywhere unless I say so, got it? Got some real weirdos in here..."

Nick and Judy nodded, and Finnick swung open the door. A mob of animals writhed to the beat of the music in the center, every color imaginable flooding the area, turning everyone inside into a living rainbow. To the far right, isolated from most of the party-goers, was a bar, the bottles in the back glistening as the lights passed over them. Looking up, there were layers upon layers of balconies, each with their own crowd dancing wildly within.

"This is... interesting..." Nick said, looking over at Judy. She had her paws pressed tightly against her ears, a pained expression on her face. Under most circumstances, Nick actually envied Judy's more developed hearing. This was not one of those circumstances.

"We're heading upstairs to one of the private rooms!" Finnick shouted, just barely loud enough for them to hear over the thundering music.

They followed him to the back of the venue, carefully sidestepping the other patrons, partly out of courtesy, partly because they were just _weird_ (Nick swore he saw some of them wearing pacifiers around their necks, for whatever reason). One through the crowd, they came across a narrow staircase made entirely of intertwined roots and vines, snaking upward for what seemed like miles. Finnick didn't hesitate to grab hold of the side railing and begin his ascent, while Nick nervously tip-toed upwards, Judy following him with similar mistrust for the spongy wood.

Finnick stopped at what Nick guessed was about the fifth floor, and turned into a doorway draped with loose ivy. The room was furnished with couches and a few side tables, and aside from a pair of okapi staring vacantly at the ceiling from one of the couches, was devoid of other animals. Rows of doors ran down the left side of the room,

"So, are we supposed to meet him here or...?" Judy asked, her voice slightly louder than needed. By this point, the music was muffled enough that she wasn't constantly in pain, but it was still reverberating intensely throughout the room.

A little mouse, dressed in a rather nice-looking grey suit, stuck his head out from one of the couches. "Oh! Finnick!" he called, waving at them. "Are those the...?"

"Sure are," Finnick replied.

"Excellent!" The mouse hopped down to the floor and waddled over to them. He brushed off his suit and gave a curt bow. "My name is Dampé," he said graciously. "I suppose we'll be spending some time together this evening..."

"Suppose so..." Nick said flatly.

Dampé looked Nick and Judy up and down, rubbing his chin in thought. "I have to admit, this isn't the attire I'd expect animals of your... _profession_ to wear..." He motioned toward the fairly simple hoodies both of them wore.

"Had to be discreet," Finnick said. "They don't look it, but they're the best at what they do."

"Oh well," Dampé shrugged. "Thank you very much for bringing me these two. The money's over there in that envelope." He pointed toward one of the end tables.

"And thank you, Dampé," Finnick cackled as he claimed his prize.

"I told you Finnick was getting _something_ out of this..." Nick whispered to Judy.

"Okay, you were right," Judy reluctantly admitted, "But at least he was telling the truth about our witness!"

As Finnick was walking out the door, envelope in paw, he turned around and gave Nick and Judy a wide, toothy grin. "Have fun."

The two exchanged bewildered glances at the comment, but quickly shrugged it off and turned to face Dampé. For a few minutes, the trio stood in awkward silence, the only noise being the occasional snort from one of the questionably-conscious okapi. "Well, uh..." Dampé began, timidly rubbing his paws over one another. "L-let's find someplace more private, shall we?"

"That'd probably be a good idea," Judy agreed.

The mouse lead them to one of the doors. "Er, do you mind...?" he asked, pointing up toward the knob hovering far above his own reach. Nick reached over and opened the door. The room was quite spacious, with ebony dressers pushed up against the sides and a massive bed set against the back wall, covered in white linens and a pile of decorative pillows.

Dampé jumped up on top of the bed. "S-sorry about being so nervous..." he said, continuing to rub his paws together. "First time doing anything like... _this_."

"Don't worry about it," Judy said reassuringly. "It's always intimidating at first. We don't bite, though!" she added with a friendly wink.

A light chuckle escaped Dampé's lips, but he suddenly stopped at stared intensely at her and Nick. "Now that I look at you, you seem a bit big for an arctic fox." he noted. "And aren't you kinda short for a hare?"

Nick froze up. "W-well that's because, uh..." He looked to Judy with a _'Help me!'_ expression.

"He suffers from gigantism, and I'm a dwarf!" Judy said quickly, hugging Nick closely and doing her best to smile sincerely.

"Uh..." Judy jabbed Nick in the arm, her smile never faltering. "T-that's right!" he said, nodding vigorously.

Dampé merely stared with a blank expression. "That... makes sense!" he exclaimed suddenly. "No wonder you two make such a cute couple!"

The smiles dropped. The two quickly separated themselves, awkwardly keeping their distance. "A-actually, we're not..." Judy began.

"Oh, just co-workers?" Dampé asked, seeming oddly disappointed.

"Well, we're friends," Nick said. "But _just_ friends!" he added quickly.

"That's disappointing, but oh well! Let's get to business, shall we?"

"Oh! Of course," Judy said, sobering up and pulling out a notepad. "Now Dampé, what do you know about-"

Dampé unzipped his pants.

" _WHOA_! Okay, hold on!" Nick exclaimed, putting up his paws to block the view.

"What are you _doing_?!" Judy shouted, recoiling in horror.

"G-getting ready?" Dampé replied, looking just as confused as they were.

"Getting ready for wh-" Nick paused for a moment. His expression perfectly mirrored his train of thought as it slowly transitioned from confusion to rage. "You two will have to excuse me," he growled. "I'm going to have a little talk with Finnick about _boundaries_..."

"Later, Nick," Judy said, snapping out of her initial shock. She pulled out her badge and presented it to Dampé. "Officer Judy Hopps, ZPD. We have some q-"

"Cops?!" Dampé squealed. "This was a set-up?! I-I can't go to jail! They'd eat me alive! _Literally_!" He leapt off the bed and tried to run off, but his progress was abruptly halted as his pants fell around his ankles, knocking him to the ground.

Judy knelt down, face-to-face with the mouse. "Dampé, we can forget this ever happened if you just answer a few questions for us, alright?"

"R-really?!" he blubbered. "Ask away, officer! I'll tell you anything!"

"Great," Judy opened her notebook. "What do you know about 'Maddox'?"

Dampé's mouth hung open for a moment. "... so, how much jail time will this get me, exactly?"

"Dampé, please..."

"I'm not talking!" he said adamantly. "You can take me in, 'cause I don't know _anything_ about that loon or his cult!"

Nick and Judy exchanged a sideways glance. "He has a _cult_?" Nick repeated.

"W-wait, no! I didn't mean to-" He stopped and sighed deeply. "Okay! Fine, you got me!" he cried out. Pulling up his pants, Dampé waddled back up on top of the bed and sat down. "I used to be a judge for the White Tail awards. For nearly a decade, the other judges and I would receive threats from some guy calling himself 'Maddox' telling us to only vote for predator-directed films. Nasty stuff; trust me, you don't wanna' know. One day, I got tired of it and voted on something I thought _deserved_ a White Tail."

"Let me guess," Nick interrupted. "Was it _Wreck-it-Rhino_?"

"That's exactly was it was!"

"I knew it!" he howled joyously. "I knew that movie got the shaft! Everyone knew!"

Judy glared at him. "Are you done?" she asked dryly.

Nick's ears flattened against his head. "Er, yeah, yeah I am..." he said quietly.

"Anyways, you were saying, Dampé?" Judy pressed.

"Oh! Right," he said. "So, after I voted against the predators, I came home to find my apartment completely destroyed. Nothing left. There was a message written on my bedroom wall telling me to get out and quit my job, so I did."

"You could've reported that to the police, you know," Judy said, seeming genuinely concerned.

"I didn't want to risk it," he said. "I know Maddox has followers. Lots of 'em. Might be some in the ZPD. Can't be too careful."

"How do you know that?"

"At first, we just tracked down the employee who delivered them to us and fired him. Then, we started finding them at our homes, in our cars, our offices... One guy even had his kid bring one home from school, saying a _teacher_ gave it to her!"

"That's... disturbing." Judy said, looking quite horrified. "Do you know where the threats came from, exactly? Return addresses?"

"Judy, there's no way anyone would be stupid enough to put down a _return address_ on a letter like that," Nick deadpanned.

"Tell you what," Dampé pulled out a pen of his own. "Paper, please."

Judy tore off a small corner from one of her pages and placed it into the mouse's tiny paws. He scribbled a few lines down on the front, then folded it up.

"I wrote down the return address from the threats," he said, handing the scrap back. Nick looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. "None of us ever dared to find how where exactly they were being sent from, but we recognized that address every time we found those envelopes..."

By that point, Nick was practically frothing at the mouth. "What kind of idiot-?!" He stopped and took a deep breath. "I think we got what we need, Carrots..." he said, rubbing his temple. "Right now, I really, really want to go home..."

"Yeah, I think we've got some definitive evidence!" Judy said excitedly. Nick hastily walked out the door, Judy trailing behind as usual. "Thanks for the info, Dampé!" she said, stopping halfway out. "We owe you one."

"Well, the night's still young..." Dampé pat the bed invitingly. "And if you want to repay me, the offer still stands," he added with a wink.

The door slammed shut.

* * *

 **Author's Ramblings:**

Took my time writing this, since I'm trying to be a bit more descriptive, but it stills feel lacking. Let me know what you guys think. You know I get a warm, fuzzy feeling from being critiqued, right?

By the way, I ret-conned the time-frame from being three months after Bellweather's arrest to ten months due to Richard Moore claiming that Nick graduated from the police academy nine months after her arrest. Shouldn't affect the story at all, but I felt it should be noted.

 **EDIT** : Did a little typo purge and made a few improvements to the vocabulary.


	4. Chapter 4

"ZPD, this is Benjamin Clawhauser speaking! How may I help you?"

"Hey Ben..." Nick wheezed. "It's me, Nick..." He jerked away from the phone and let out a long, dry coughing fit.

"Omigosh, Nick, you sound terrible!" Ben cried. "What happened?"

"I dunno," Nick said hoarsely. "Think I picked something up when Judy and I went to the movies yesterday..." He went into another coughing fit, louder and longer than before. "I-I was calling in since I overslept, and I wanted to let you know I'm on my way now."

"Oh, no you don't!" Ben scolded. "You're staying home, mister!"

"But you guys need all the help you can get with the Maddox case!" Nick protested. "I can make it, I'm fi-" He stifled a cough, the resulting noise somewhat resembling that of a broken squeaky toy. "I-I'm fine..." he added weakly.

Ben let out an exasperated sigh. "Nick, I know you're eager to be on the case after what happened to Judy, but we're going to make even less progress if everyone gets sick!"

"I could wear one of those doctor mask... things..."

"Nick, you're not coming to work," Ben said firmly. "If I see you anywhere near this station, I'm having you escorted back home, you hear me? Just get some rest. Judy's not gonna' be here to see you acting all tough, anyway, so you might as well stay home and get better."

"Alright, you win..." Nick said, defeated. "I'll stay home..."

"It's for the best. Hope you feel better soon!" Ben replied cheerfully. "Tell Judy I said 'hi'!"

"Alright, I will. Bye, Ben." Nick hung up the phone, rubbing futilely at the soreness in his throat. "I am _never_ doing that voice again..." he muttered.

* * *

It had been far too long since Nick had this sort of freedom. He loved his job at the ZPD, and he loved working with Judy, but having lived most of his live doing as he pleased, the routine had become rather draining. While he felt guilty about lying to Clawhauser, and even more-so about telling Judy he had gone to the station, he delighted in the opportunity to wear the green button-up shirt and striped tie Judy never let him go out in public with anymore.

Nick stepped outside and marveled at how beautiful the day was. Puffy white clouds traveled overhead, a light breeze blew through his fur,. He wished he could enjoy it longer, but reminded himself that there was work to be done. Finnick's van was parked on the other side of the street. As he approached, Nick could make out the tiny fox himself sitting in the driver seat, head buried in a newspaper. He seemed to notice Nick, despite the newspaper covering the entirety of his face, and motioned him toward the van.

Nick walked around and hopped into the passenger seat. "Where's the bunny?" Finnick asked, folding up the newspaper.

"She's at home, working on cleaning up after the break-in," Nick said. "Not like she'd approve of my little scheme, anyway."

"Who need her approval?" Finnick said apathetically. "Just gimme' the address so we can get this over with."

Nick fished out a tiny scrap of paper from his front pocket. It was the same one Dampé had given to Judy two nights ago, the same one she had trusted him to turn over to the ZPD that morning. Guilt gnawed at his conscience, and for a moment he wondered if he should just get out of the van and-

"Any time now, Nicky," Finnick growled.

Nick snapped out of his doubtful train of thought. He was doing this to keep Judy safe. "333 East Wonderewe Avenue," he read aloud.

Finnick input the address into his GPS, and let out an irritated groan. "Oh come on, the Meadowlands? That's on the other side of the city!"

"After what you did to Judy and I the other night, this is letting you off easy," Nick said darkly.

Finnick glared at him. "Fine," he grumbled, starting the van. "But you're paying for gas."

Nick leaned back in his seat and rested his feet on the dashboard. "Fine by me." A few bucks wasn't as nearly a big a deal as the risk of being suspended, or even fired, for lying about being sick, or the possibility of Judy hating him for lying to her, but if it meant he could ensure her safety, it was worth it.

* * *

The northern section of the Meadowlands, as opposed to the more middle-class suburban areas below it, catered toward more affluent individuals, with mansions, country clubs, and golf courses dotting the hilly landscape. Nick stared vacantly at the passing scenery, occasionally looking down at his phone. He had been watching his phone the whole trip, hoping Judy wouldn't call. Thus far, his wish seemed to have come true, but he wasn't sure how much longer it would last.

 _"You have arrived at your destination."_

The van suddenly braked, sending Nick's face crashing into the dashboard. Finnick burst into manic laughter as Nick hissed in pain. "Oh man, _that_ just made this whole trip worthwhile!" he cackled. "Whodda' thought a _cop_ would forget their friggin' seat belt?"

"Yes, that's _hilarious_ ," Nick muttered, rubbing his nose. He looked out the window. A large mansion, fenced with with stone walls and a wide metal gate, sat just outside. It was painfully generic-looking, as if the architect simply looked up stock photos of mansions and copied what he saw. "This the place?"

Finnick let out a few last giggles before mostly sobering up. "Looks like it," he said. "How do you suppose we get past the gate?"

"Well, if this guy was stupid enough to put a return address on his threats, then maybe he's stupid enough to leave the gate unlocked."

Finnick drove them up to the gate. There was a worn-looking intercom on a section of the stone wall adjacent to the gate itself, but it seemed so out of repair that it never crossed their minds to even attempt to use it. Nick was just about to get out before a deep-sounding voice sang over the speaker.

" _Come iiin_."

The gate squeaked open, allowing them access to the long driveway that led up to the house. "Well, that's not ominous at all," Nick said, sitting back down. "But it seems we're being welcomed."

They made their way up the driveway, passing by topiaries and flower beds as uninspired as the mansion itself. Finnick stopped just in front of the front door, but didn't turn off the van. "I'm staying in here," he said, unfolding his newspaper. "As soon as there's trouble, I'm out."

"Fair enough," Nick said. "But if I'm going in alone, I probably shouldn't be unarmed..." He held out his paw expectantly.

"Oh, right." Finnick opened the glove compartment and pulled out a small tranquilizer gun. "Elephant round," he said, lightly tapping a claw on the hard coating of the loaded dart. "Just like you asked."

Nick took the gun and stuffed it into his pocket, his loose-fitting shirt concealing it rather well. "I'll make it count. Wish me luck," he said, opening the door. Finnick merely grunted in acknowledgement, already focused on his newspaper once more.

Nick hopped out of the van and walked up to the front door. While the mansion's design as a whole was probably the most boring thing he had ever laid eyes upon, the size of the door was something to behold. Nick stuck his hand in his pocket and gripped the tranquilizer gun. "For Judy..." he said to himself, then reached for the doorbell.

He had barely removed his finger from the button before the door swung open, the suddenness making him jump back. Standing in the doorway was a grizzly bear, the largest Nick had ever seen, sporting a dress shirt and slacks, and odd smile on his lips. "Nick Wilde!" he exclaimed, opening his arms. "Hero cop of Zootopia! Welcome to my commorancy!"

Nick blinked in confusion. "Your... what?"

"Commorancy; home, place of dwelling," the bear said simply. "Suppose I shouldn't have expected a non-creative to comprehend, hm?"

Something felt familiar about him, but Nick couldn't quite explain why. Was it the looks? The voice? The blatant self-esteem issues poorly masked behind unbearable egotism? "Wait a minute," Nick said, eyeing the bear with sudden realization. "Are you... Orson Hitchcock?"

"Why, yes I am!" he boasted, puffing out his chest in pride. "Call me Mr. Hitchcock, if you please. A fan, I presume?"

"Yeah. 'Fan'. Let's go with that." This pompous idiot couldn't be Maddox, could he? The cold, calculating criminal mastermind that broke into the homes of twenty-three animals and made them vanish without a trace? Nick chastised himself for believing anyone would be so moronic as to _actually_ leave a return address, and made a mental note to find that scumbag mouse again.

"I'm actually quite glad you're here. You see, I'm actually conceptualizing a film based on the exploits of you and Judy," he said, draping his arm over Nick's shoulder and pulling him in close. "Just imagine! Predator and prey, conman and cop, fighting together to save Zootopia from the clutches of conspiracy! It would be the _ne plus ultra_ of crime drama! If you could come take a look at the screenplay I would be most delighted."

"Hey, listen, I really appreciate that; it's a huge honor, really," Nick said, slipping Hitchcock's arm off of himself with some difficulty. "But I'm like two hours late for work, so..."

"Oh, but I implore you!" Hitchcock seized Nick by the arm.

"HEY! Paws off!" he snapped, struggling against the bear's vice-like grip.

"As you wish." Hitchcock effortlessly flung Nick over his shoulder, sending the fox flying through the air until he smashed against the tile floor of the foyer. Despite the pain in his side from the impact, Nick managed to recover fairly quickly, but not before Hitchcock slammed the door shut. The bear turned to him. "I know why you're here, Nick." His claws clacked loudly on the tile as he approached. "You got the little mousie to talk, hm? It's because you want to meet _him_ , don't you?"

Nick opened his mouth to reply, but Hitchcock opened his first. "Oh, what am I saying? Of course you want to meet him!" He stopped just in front of where Nick was standing. "Every predator looks up to his genius, his ambition, his truth!" His eyes met Nick's. "I can take you to him, you know," he said, flashing a toothy grin.

"As much as I would like that..." Nick pulled out the tranquilizer gun and fired, nailing Hitchcock in the chest. A few moments passed, but the bear continued to stand, completely unaffected.

Hitchcock looked down at the dart with an unimpressed expression, and casually pulled it out. Nick watched in utter confusion. "You're dumbfounded, shocked, dare I say surprised?" he taunted. "All because you lack the percipience to realize that I'm wearing a dart-proof vest."

"Persi-what, now?"

"Percipience; perceptiveness, ability to noti-" Nick dove between Hitchcock's legs, catching the bear off guard, and made a mad dash for the door. His paw hovered just above the knob before a crushing pressure seized his tail, yanking him upwards. He found himself suddenly hanging upside-down, face-to-face with an amused-looking Orson Hitchcock. "Did you really hope to accomplish anything with that?" Hitchcock chuckled. "I knew you'd be somewhat obstreperous, but I honestly thought the conman-turned-cop would have been more... sagacious."

"...what?"

"My point exactly," Hitchcock said in peculiar sing-song tone. He continued to carry Nick through the house, down a long corridor lined with paintings and sculptures that were quite remarkable in their blandness. Nick would have retaliated in some way, but he had a suspicion that the bear's affable demeanor was merely an act, and any further resistance would result in his throat being ripped out. "We're going for little drive," Hitchcock declared cheerfully, opening a door to reveal a garage filled with exotic cars. He walked up to a glossy black sedan with tinted windows. "I even have a special seat just for you!" The trunk popped open, and Hitchcock carelessly dropped Nick inside. "Do get comfortable; it's a long ride."The trunk slammed shut.

Nick let his eyes acclimate to the darkness before pulling out his phone, fumbling to get to his keypad. "Alright, 9-1-"

 _ **TRY EVERYTHING**_  
 _ **OH, OH, OH, OH, OH**_

"Nononono, Judy! Not now!"

The trunk opened once more, the sudden flash of light blinding Nick before he could cancel the call. "Almost forgot about this!" Hitchcock bent over and snatched the phone out of Nick's hands. "Don't want you calling your friends to our little conclave, hm?" The trunk slammed shut once more, leaving Nick in pitch-black darkness.

Nick's banged his head against the floor. "If I get out of this alive, Judy is going to _kill_ me..."

* * *

 **Author's Ramblings**

This chapter is brought to you by a little site called pompousasswords.

Thank writer's block and a lot of real-life work for the massive delay this time. Wanted to release this for about two weeks, but I ended up have a lot less time than I anticipated. Almost completely rewriting this chapter like three times sure as hell didn't help.

As always, review, and maybe things might be less terrible next time. It's a goal that benefits everyone!

 **EDIT:** Having made the oh-so-wise decision to upload this at two in the morning, there were a few mistakes that needed to be fixed.


	5. Chapter 5

"Things could be worse, Wilde. There's no trunk release, your phone's been taken, you oh-so-wisely decided against bringing more darts, and you're ninety-nine percent sure you're talking to yourself because otherwise you'd be obsessing over the fact that you're probably gonna' die... Actually, things really _couldn't_ be much worse, could they?" A sharp bump in the road smashed Nick's muzzle into the top of the trunk. "Okay, I'll take that as a sign that I need to be more optimistic," he said, still grimacing from his battered nose. "Let's see... Oh! Maybe if I get out of this alive I can tell Judy I met Orson Hitchcock. Sure, the whole 'kidnapping me and stuffing me into the trunk of a car' thing might spoil it, but she'd probably still think it's cool."

Nick felt the car slowly come to a stop, the engine shutting off a few moments afterwards.

" _Aaand_ now I'm back to being terrified of my potential demise."

The trunk shot open, the sudden excess of light momentarily blinding Nick. As his eyes readjusted, he could make out the smiling figure of Orson Hitchcock hovering above him. "Hello, Nicholas!" he said cheerfully. "It's time to come meet everybody!" Nick yelped in pain as Hitchcock's crushing grip wrapped around his tail and yanked him out of the trunk. Even upside down, Nick recognized the florescent lights, concrete fixtures, and (admittedly sparse) variety of other cars as elements commonly found in parking garages, and despite the blood rushing to his head already making him quite dizzy, deducted that he was, in fact, inside a parking garage.

"C'mon pal, is this really necessary?" Nick groaned, futility trying to pull his tail free. "My head feels like it's gonna' pop..."

Hitchcock simply ignored him as he shut the trunk and fished out a set of keys from his pocket. "You're going to _love_ the Father," he said, walking away from the car. "He's been wanting to talk with you for a long time now; ever since you assisted in the Bellwether arrest, actually." As they approached, Nick could make out a pair of steel doors at the other end of the garage, their baby-blue paint faded and flaked with age. "I'd tell you more, but he truly has a way with words. Even me, with my sesquipedalian, dare I say, _coruscating_ tongue, would never be able to do his speeches justice."

"Maybe if you put down the thesaurus and tried talking like a normal animal..." Nick muttered.

"Ah, you poor, poor simpleton..." Hitchcock sighed. "I pity your inability to appreciate the chrysostomatic pulchritudinousness that is _language._ "

"Are those even real words?" Nick asked incredulously. "Because at this point, it sounds like you're just making stuff up to sound smart."

"Why, they are as real as the quotidian vocabulary you and your kind utilize," Orson replied. "Any dictionary would say as much."

"Well, why don't you hand me back my phone so I can confirm your cor...rollerskating tongue, or whatever."

Hitchcock chuckled lightly. "You really _are_ a simpleton, aren't you? _"_ By that point they were standing in front of the doors. Hitchcock unlocked them with one of his keys, and the doors noisily creaked open on rusty hinges, revealing a short corridor, another set of doors, and a jaguar leaning against the wall.

"I'll assume that isn't just a random fox from off the street..." the jaguar said, approaching them with a coy smile.

Nick gazed wide-eyed at him, memories of the Understory rushing back into his thoughts. "And I'll assume you aren't just some random jaguar..."

"Brother Raul!" Hitchcock wrapped his free arm around the jaguar. "Your intel came through for the Family once again!"

Raul didn't even bother trying to escape the bear's embrace, almost seeming to enjoy it, even. "Obviously, you got Wilde," he said. "But what happened to the rabbit?"

"I've concluded he came companion-less," Hitchcock said, his smile dropping for a split second. "But, better to have one than none, hm?"

"Suppose so," Raul sighed. "Really, it's a miracle you even got him up to your doorstep, let alone caught him."

"Of course it worked, Brother; it was _my_ plan, after all!" He released Raul and merrily walked through the other set of doors.

As the next room came into view, Nick found himself oddly grateful he couldn't tuck his tail between legs. The utterly colossal room, the size of a sports stadium, at least two stories in height, and without a single window in sight, was packed with at least a hundred different predators. Some were lifting crates or performing other sorts of manual labor, others sat at the cheap-looking tables dotted throughout the area, resting, eating, or chatting with others. A few were even sleeping on cots in the far back.

"Greetings, comrades!" Hitchcock bellowed. The bustling of the crowd simmered down, all eyes fixed on the massive grizzly bear towering above them. "Thanks to the efforts of myself and Brother Raul, today I bring with me an inspiration to predators everywhere." Hitchcock carelessly swung Nick around with his exaggerated arm gestures. "He rose up against the calumny and prejudices at the paws of the oppressive prey, and liberated us from the darkest days of the Nighthowler Conspiracy! My fellow Family members, I present to you Zootopia's very first fox police officer and our guest of honor; _Nick Wilde!_ " He lifted Nick high into the air, presenting him like a trophy to the crowd of predators.

Silence reigned over the unimpressed predators, aside from a few uncomfortable claps and a halfhearted cheer or two.

"Now, I know you're all very excited," Hitchcock said. "And you have every reason to be! Mr. Wilde, as one of the most prominent predators in all of Zootopia, shall-"

"Orson, we've talked about this," Raul groaned. "Interrupting everybody's work to gloat is what we call _counter-productive_."

"But this is motivational speaking!" Hitchcock exclaimed, his wide arm gestures flinging Nick around like a rag-doll.

"I'm sure everyone appreciates it, but I say the sooner you get Wilde to Father Maddox, the happier he'll be," Raul said. "And the happier the Father is, the more likely he'll be to let you talk in an _official_ gathering, am I right?"

Hitchcock looked to be in deep thought. "I suppose you have a point," he said, his cheerful tone never diminishing. "Off to see the Father, then; take care, Brother Raul!" He waved goodbye as he waded through the crowd of animals, quite nearly stepping on a few of the smaller ones.

"Thank you, Brother Raul..." Nick slurred, feeling strangely tired. Sights and sound slowly blurred together, compiling together into one big mess of noise and color until he saw, heard, and felt nothing at all.

* * *

"Good Lord! What did you _do_ to him?!"

"I haven't a clue; I treated him with the utmost care."

"You walked in here carrying him by the tail!"

"He was being difficult."

"He barely reaches up to your knee!"

"The small ones are always the most violent."

Nick was lay on his back staring up at a cheaply tiled ceiling. His vision was still rather blurry, but he could make out shapes of Hitchcock and what seemed to be some variety of wolf. "What... what's going on?" Nick said, finding it oddly difficult to put the sentence together.

"See? He's awake now," Hitchcock said calmly. "No harm done!"

"He was unconscious for _two minutes_!" the wolf snapped.

"And?" Hitchcock scoffed. "Some of my characters stay like that for _days_."

The wolf shuddered with barely-contained rage. "Just... just _leave_ , Orson..."

Without another word, the bear disappeared from view, the sound of a door closing following soon after.

"I'm very sorry about that," the wolf said, sitting down besides Nick. "I don't normally lose my temper like that, but after seeing the state he left you in, I just couldn't contain myself!"

Nick snorted in amusement. "To be honest, I was really hoping you'd bite his face off or something, but like that was going to happen considering how my day's been so far..." he groaned, forcing out a smile. "But now that the psycho's gone, I think I'm going to just head home..." Nick struggled to get to his feet, his limbs feeling like they were made of stone.

"No, you're not!" the wolf said, pushing him back down. He scooped Nick up in his arms and placed him gently on what Nick assumed to be a bed. "You have a concussion," the wolf said, placing a pillow beneath Nick's head. "You need to stay and rest here for a while if you even want to make it out the door without falling on your face and making things worse."

He was close enough now that Nick would more easily discern his features. His fur was a dark, smokey grey, with soft amber eyes. His chin and lower muzzle were almost snow-white, making it obvious he was an older gentleman, possibly in his fifties, even sixties. "For a total stranger, you seem awfully concerned about my well-being," Nick said.

"I'm a doctor," the wolf replied. "I took an oath not to turn away those in need."

"It's not that I don't trust you," Nick said. "But considering all I've been through today, I'm not really inclined to believe you. I mean, I don't even know where am, or who you are."

"You're in my office," the wolf said simply.

"And you've deliberately avoided telling me your name," Nick tisked. "That just _screams_ trustworthiness, doesn't it?"

The wolf chortled lightly. "Fair point. If it'll put you at ease, I suppose there's no harm," he said, smiling gently. "Dr. Stewart Maddox, at your service."

* * *

 **Author's Ramblings**

Five chapters worth of build-up, and the main villain turns out to be a doctor. Whoever wrote this should be hanged.


	6. Chapter 6

_carrots help me_

Judy rolled her eyes. _What now?_ she texted back, anticipating Nick's latest plea for attention.

 _im bored_

Typical. _Get back to work, you lazy fox._

 _but paperwork is soooo boring. there is a literal wall of paper on the side of my desk_

 _What do you want me to do about it?_

 _i dunno. send nudes?_

 _We're no longer friends._

 _aw, does that mean i have to give back the carrot pen? because that recording of you admitting you liked spider ham is the only thing keeping me from pushing over this pile and flooding the office with evidence reports_

Judy couldn't help but giggle at the thought of Nick drowning under a sea of paperwork. _Quit being such a whiner. You're not the one that had to clean up broken glass and assemble KEA furniture all on their own this afternoon._

 _and youre not the one that lost a liter of blood from papercuts_

 ** _Knock, knock, knock._**

Judy got up from her desk, leaving her phone behind, having figured letting Nick get the last word in would silence him, if only for a few minutes. She opened the door. Curiously, there was nobody there. She looked down each side of the hallway. Still, no sign of anyone. With a shrug, Judy started to turn around and shut the door behind her.

"I gotta' know; do you guys do this with to mess with me, or are you really that stupid?" Judy's eyes traveled downward. Finnick stood just in front of her, arms crossed, wearing an irritated expression.

"Oh, Finnick! I didn't see you there," Judy said, trying her best to sound coy. "What brings you here?"

"Guess it's the latter," Finnick muttered, pushing past Judy and seating himself at her desk. "See you've been busy. Wall ain't covered in hate speech no more."

"Seriously, why are you here?" Judy groaned, closing the door. "Shouldn't you be trying to sell bridges or something?"

"I've got more important things to do right now," he said, twirling one of Judy's pens between his paws. "Listen, normally this would be the last thing I'd do, but I need your help, and the cops probably shouldn't get involved."

Judy stared at him with a bored expression. "Just because I'm off-duty doesn't mean I can't still arrest you."

"It's not like that!" he snapped. "I ain't gonna sugarcoat it, lady; Nick's in trouble. He forced me to drive all the way up to this mansion in the Meadowlands with him because wanted to go hunt down Maddox on his own. Last I saw him, he was thrown inside by this freakin' huge bear, and I dunno what happened after that, 'cause I got the hell outta' there. Basically, you and I gotta' to get into that house, and find Nick, or what's left of him."

Judy blinked, trying to process what she just heard. She stifled a laugh. "Did... did you honestly expect me to buy that?"

"I'm not playing games with you, Cottontail..." Finnick growled.

"No, you're trying to trick me into helping you rob a house," she giggled, "and your story is hilariously unconvincing."

"I'm tellin' the truth, you moron!" Finnick shouted, banging his fist on the desk. "Nick's gone!"

"Nick's been texting me from the station all day," Judy said, grabbing her phone and presenting it to Finnick. "Most of his time's been spent trying to get out of his assignments, but..."

Finnick eyed the phone suspiciously. "Call the station. He's not there, and he never was."

"So, now you're accusing him of lying to me?" Judy asked, considerably less amused.

"Because he is!" Finnick stood up in his chair in a rather poor attempt to look more imposing. "I'm tellin' you, if we don't get back there-"

"Alright, this is getting kind of pathetic," Judy said. "I never thought you'd stoop low enough to try and use Nick to bait me into one of your schemes."

"How many times do I have to say it?! This ain't a scheme! Why can't you get that through your tiny skull?!"

"The answer is 'no', Finnick."

For a moment, Finnick simply looked lost, staring at her in disbelief. Then he looked furious, ready to claw her eyes out, then on the verge of tears, then furious again. He tossed the pen behind him. "You know what? _Fine!_ " he shouted, stomping out the door. "Don't blame me when they find his head in a ditch or somethin'!"

"Whatever," Judy said, smiling smugly as Finnick slammed the door behind him. She sat back down at her desk, groaning in annoyance as she realized Finnick had left claw marks on her brand new furniture. Guessing Nick would love to hear about Finnick's latest episode, she pulled out her phone and started typing a message. For some reason, she hesitated. Finnick had certainly been... _emotional_ during their confrontation. He wasn't that good of an actor, was he?

No, he was just making it all up. Nick would never lie to her, especially not over something so important.

But, surely it wouldn't hurt to check? She could use her phone's GPS to find out where his messages were sent from.

Did she really have so little trust for Nick that she felt the need to track his location?

Of course she trusted him, but what if he really was in danger?

Why would he be in danger? He'd been doing desk work all day; the biggest risk he'd face would be having the water cooler fall on him again.

"Then again," she said aloud, "it _would_ be pretty funny if I could try and spy on what room he's in. Maybe I can trick him into thinking I'm watching from out the window," she added with a mischievous cackle.

She tapped Nick's latest message, and selected the GPS tracking option from the menu. She grinned at the mere thought of turning Nick into a paranoid mess, simply by abusing the power of modern technology.

The GPS loaded the location, and Judy's smile faded.

Nick wasn't at the police station. He wasn't even in Savanna Central.

The message had been sent from 333 East Wonderewe Avenue.

* * *

Nick had recently come to the conclusion that the universe hated him. Instead of waking up in his bed, in his condo, he found himself exactly where he last remembered being; laying on the bed of Dr. Stewart Maddox, MD, cult leader, and serial kidnapper, with absolutely no idea where in the world he was. The massive headache pounding at his skull was merely the cherry on top.

He sat up, struggling against the splitting pain in his head, and examined the room more closely, now that he could see more than two feet in front of himself. The bed was pushed up against the wall to his left, which was covered with a decorative curtain, despite there being nothing aside from bare wall beneath it. Filing cabinets and cardboard boxes were stacked up high just beyond the foot of the bed, and right behind it as well, limiting Nick's view of the walls behind them, though he could barely make out a door frame on the back wall.

Maddox sat at a desk on the far right of the room, sluggishly typing at an old typewriter. An assortment of diplomas and certificates hung on the wall above him, though Nick couldn't make out the details on most of them. "Good morning, Nick," Maddox said, still facing towards his desk. "I'm honestly surprised you're awake so early. Did you sleep well?"

Was he _really_ trying to sound concerned for him? Nick hadn't been born yesterday. "Like a baby."

"There's a bowl of fruit on the nightstand, along with some pain-killers," Maddox said. "I wasn't sure what your favorites were, so I just put in a bit of everything."

Nick turned his head slightly to the side. A large glass bowl filled with all sorts of different fruit, apples, grapes, oranges, even more exotic ones like starfruit and papaya, sat on top of a plain-looking nightstand. Several brightly colored pills were laid out nearby, along with a glass of water. "I'm not hungry," Nick said, eyeing the bowl and pills with suspicion.

"Regardless of whether or not you feel hungry, you should eat," Maddox said. "A concussion can be very hard on your body, and it would be wise to provide it with the proper nourishment in order to assure a smooth recovery."

Nick reluctantly plucked a few grapes from their stems, examining the fruit between his fingers before finally eating them. They didn't taste any different than ordinary grapes, to his relief. He ignored the pills and the water, despite his continuing headache, rather sure taking unlabeled pills and drinks from a criminal mastermind wasn't the smartest idea. "So, you're the guy responsible for all those disappearances?"

"Yes, I am," Maddox said, adding a new sheet of paper into his typewriter. "But before you condemn me, I do have good reason for my crimes."

"I don't think I can come with _any_ good reason to kidnap innocent mammals from their homes," Nick said venomously.

Maddox's chair swiveled to face Nick, his expression grimly serious. "What if I told you those 'innocent mammals' were key organizers in anti-predator rallies during Bellwether's little stint as mayor?"

"So, this is some sort of revenge plot?"

"Of course not." Maddox put away a few of the papers on his desk, then walked toward Nick. "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, as they say."

That was possibly the single-most unbelievable lie Nick had ever heard. "Then why go for them specifically?"

"I'll explain later. In the meantime..." Maddox summoned a small flashlight from his coat pocket, and shone it in Nick's eyes. "Are you experiencing any headaches, dizziness, or feelings of confusion?"

"No, I'm _fine_ ," Nick spat, shielding his eyes from the blinding light.

Maddox put the flashlight away. "Good. Means you're recovering quickly."

"Does that also mean I can go home?"

"I'm afraid not," Maddox said apologetically. "You view what I'm doing as wrong, and while it is certainly illegal, I cannot let you go anywhere until you realize why I've been driven to such drastic measures. Otherwise, you'd immediately report every one of us to the police."

"And how exactly are you going to get me to side with you?" Nick scoffed. "Drugs? Torture? Drug-induced torture?"

Maddox gave him a bizarre look. "Good heavens, _no_. I was thinking something much more simple, possibly a little mundane, but rather effective in my experience." Maddox slipped on a dress coat, approached the back wall, and opened the door, stepping aside invitingly. "How about a tour?"

* * *

Judy simply wasn't her usual bouncy, perky self that morning. She had barely slept the night before, her dreams having been plagued with nightmares, most of which involved discovering Nick's severed head in a ditch. Her fur was matted and sticking up in every direction, bags hung loosely under her bloodshot eyes, and she struggled to even keep her head up, despite practically inhaling four cups of coffee beforehand.

"Hopps."

She didn't really care about the stares she got from the other officers. In fact, it was actually quite difficult to concern herself with anything aside from Nick. She couldn't decide whether she should've been concerned for his safety, or furious because the idiot had lied to her and put her into quite possibly the most stressful situation she had ever experienced in her entire life.

" _Hopps._ "

Then there was the fact that she hadn't received any messages from Nick's number since that night. Did his phone just run out of battery? What if he got hurt? Or worse, what if he was-?!

" _ **HOPPS!**_ "

Judy toppled out of her chair and onto the ground. She quickly jumped back up and stood at attention. "Y-yes, sir!" she stammered, her face reddening as her fellow officers just barely contained their laughter.

Chief Bogo glared disapprovingly at her. " _Pay attention!_ " he snapped. "Where's Wilde?"

Judy felt something get caught in her throat. _Moment of truth, Hopps,_ she thought. _Tell the chief what happened, save Nick, and in all likelihood have both of you end up losing your jobs afterwards, or continue that lie he told Clawhauser, say he's sick, and try and find him yourself._

"He's still puking his guts out, sir," she blurted out. The entire room went into a fit of giggles while Judy silently panicked as she realized that she had just _brazenly lied to her boss_.

"I did _not_ need that image in my mind..." Bogo muttered. Judy swore she saw him smirk for a split second. "As I was saying, we've apparently made an important discovery in the Maddox case," he announced. Judy leaned forward in her seat, this time giving the chief her full attention. "By examining the debris left behind and comparing the claw and teeth marks to those in our databases, we've determined that the vandalism found at each of the crime scenes, save for Hopps', was inflicted by the victims themselves." Confused murmurs spread through the room. Even Judy couldn't quite believe what she had heard. "Unfortunately, this raises more questions than answers," Bogo said. "In the meantime, we have our senior detectives work around the clock to figure out exactly what's going on. Now, for your assignments..."

Judy tuned Bogo out, still struggling to comprehend the hole she just dug herself into. How was she supposed to work on finding Nick when if she had her paws full with her job? What if she couldn't find him before everyone became suspicious? Judy tugged on her ears in frustration. If she ever saw that fox again, she was going to strangle him for the mess he caused.

"And Hopps-" Judy perked back up, eagerly waiting for her assignment. Maybe she'd be put on the Maddox case after all? "You're temporarily being paired with Officer Delgato to investigate the stolen tree case in the Rainforest District. Dismissed."

The room dispersed, every officer heading off to their assigned task. Judy simply sat there for a moment. "...stolen trees?" she repeated to herself, completely underwhelmed. She knew that, realistically, Bogo probably wasn't going to put her onto the Maddox case anyway, what with her being a victim of the crimes, but stolen trees? Really?

"Hopps?" Judy turned around. Officer Delgato, a muscular-looking tiger, stood behind her. "You alright?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine," she said hopping down off her chair. "Just a bit tired. That's all."

"Well, this case seems low-key enough," Delgato said, following her out the door. "Won't take much more out of you."

"Why trees, though?" Judy asked. "It's just so... _mundane_."

"Somebody's gotta' do it," Delgato sighed. "Apparently trees are a big deal to some people. I take it you're disappointed?"

"Well, it's no Maddox," Judy said. "But I'm sure this case will certainly _leaf_ an impression."

Delgato's eyes narrowed at her. "...did you just…?"

"Nick's been a horrible influence on me..."

"Clearly."

* * *

Nick stuck his head out of Maddox's office, ears perked up as he scanned the hallway, mostly filled with open doors leading to empty offices. He flinched as he caught something brown in the corner of his eye... then gave a sigh of relief when he realized it was only a cardboard box.

Maddox stood outside, staring at him with a concerned expression. "Is... something the matter?" he asked.

"Just making sure Hitchcock's not gonna' pop out of nowhere and grab me by the tail again..." Nick said, still looking for any sign of the psychotic bear.

"Don't worry, he went home shortly he brought you to me," Maddox said reassuringly. "Unlike most of us here, Orson has a public image he has to maintain, and can't afford to go missing for days on end working directly alongside the Family. Besides, we had a little… _talk_ about how he should treat you from now on."

"How relieving," Nick muttered, slowly making his way out the door.

Maddox motioned him to follow him down the hall, toward a set of metal doors not unlike those in the parking garage. The doors swung open, this time with considerably less squeaking, revealing the massive room he had entered the day before, still just as busy as he remembered it. The two ventured out into the center, the buzzing of the massive crowd of mammals making Nick's head feel like it was about to split open. Despite the numerous bodies moving about, the room was pleasantly cool, and the florescent light fixtures hanging overhead provided ample light to make up for the lack of windows.

"This is the main floor," Maddox said, gesturing with his paw toward the bustling crowd of predators. "Our warehouse provides ample space for a variety of tasks, which we try and take full advantage of. Just over there we have some of our larger members loading and unloading supplies-"

"Good morning, Father Maddox!" called out a lioness, hauling a crate in her arms as she passed by.

"Good morning, Lyra!" Maddox called back without missing a beat. "Remember to lift with your legs and not your back, alright?"

"Yessir!" she replied, adjusting her grip on the crate.

Nick's eyebrow was raised for the duration of the interaction. "Do random animals just come up and say 'hi' often?" he asked doubtfully.

"They aren't 'random animals'," Maddox said. "They're co-workers, friends… all-in-all, part of the Family."

"You guys keep talking about a 'Family'," Nick noted. "Are you guys like, mobster-cultists, or is it just some cute little nickname used to make this whole operation sound less kidnapper-y?"

"We're not a cult," Maddox said firmly. "But to answer your question, it's actually a fairly recent name Orson and I came up with. We decided on the name because really, that's what this has always been; a family. We laugh together, cry together, live together, eat together, and all-in-all, love, care, and just try to be there for one another, and that's what families do. Really, I don't think there's any other name more fitting."

Nick wanted to suggest _'The Disturbingly Happy Predator-Supremacist Cult'_ , but decided that now that he was in a room filled with hundreds of Maddox's (very large) followers, trying to press the issue further might not have been in his best interests.

Maddox continued to tour Nick around the warehouse, pointing out different sections of the room as they went along, such as the storage area in the back and a rather out of place collection of cots to sleep on. Occasionally, someone would wave or say hello, and Maddox would wave back, usually referring to them by name, but otherwise everyone was quite focused on their respective activities. "There's a makeshift dining area over here," Maddox said, pointing toward the cheap plastic tables littered near the center of the room. "It's not nearly as big as the one in the basement, but-"

" _LOOK OUT_!"

 _ **CRASH!**_

The lioness from before had slipped and dropped the crate she had been carrying, the top splintering apart and spilling dozens of small plastic bottles around the floor. Almost immediately, most of the animals that were resting got up and set to picking up the spilled contents of the crate and placing them back inside. Some of the bottles had cracked open, revealing their contents to be rather large, chalky white tablets.

Maddox ran up to the lioness and pulled her back onto her feet. " _That_ is why you lift with your legs, Lyra," Maddox tisked. "Well, that and because it doesn't contribute to back injuries..."

"I'm sorry," she said, lowering her head. "It won't happen again."

"I certainly hope not!" Maddox exclaimed. "You're lucky you didn't get hurt this time; that crate could have crushed you!"

"You're not mad?" Lyra asked, taken aback. "W-what about the-?"

Maddox held her by the paw. "Lyra, the crate and it's contents are replaceable. You aren't. Now go bandage up those cuts before they get infected; that floor is _filthy_."

"Thank you, Father!" She gave a curt bow and ran off toward another part of the warehouse, presumably wherever they kept the first aid kit.

"That would have been heartwarming if you two could act," Nick muttered under his breath. He picked up one of the tablets from off the ground and examined it closely, somewhat worried he recognized it from the ZPD's evidence room. "Do I want to know what all these are for?" Nick asked, setting it back down where he found it.

"Don't worry," Maddox said, waving his paw dismissively, "They're just vitamin supplements."

'Vitamin supplements'. Sure. "Why do you have entire crates full of vitamins?"

"Did you know that over fifty percent of the predator population suffers from some level of protein deficiency?" Maddox asked. "Many members of the Family are among that statistic, and it is my duty as their doctor and as their leader to see to their health. Speaking of..." He stooped down and picked up one of the bottles. "I've been so busy working this morning, I forgot to take mine." He gripped the top and gave it a firm twist, but the lid didn't budge. He struggled with it for (a rather uncomfortable) thirty seconds before removing his paw, wincing in pain. "Er, Nick, would you mind...?" he asked sheepishly, handing him the bottle.

Nick braced himself for a struggle with the lid, but the bottle opened with relative ease. He gave Maddox a puzzled look.

"Arthritis seems to get worse by the day," he chuckled, reclaiming the bottle from Nick and swallowing a couple of the tablets. "Guess that's the price I pay for daring to grow old, huh?" He put the lid back on, sealing it loosely before putting it into his coat pocket. "Come now," Maddox said, motioning Nick towards him. "I still have to show you the basement levels."

"Lead the way," Nick said, trailing right behind him. Nothing bad could ever come of following a wanted criminal into his basement.

* * *

"...and when I woke up this morning, he was gone!" sobbed Ms. Stella J. Luna, a haggard-looking flying fox. Her tears streamed inside her ears as she hung from the ceiling, much to Judy's discomfort. Delgato didn't seem nearly as perturbed by the bat's endless bawling, but the tiny couch he sat on was less-than accommodating for his large size. "My poor, poor, Bobo!" Ms. Luna cried. "Mommy misses you!"

"Your... what?" Judy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Bobo! His name is Bobo!" she wailed. "I raised him since he was a little sapling..."

"I think she's talking about the tree," Delgato said in a bored tone. "Ms. Luna, you said that your tree was a-"

"Bobo! _HIS NAME IS BOBO!_ " she snarled, fangs bared and ready to tear both of them to shreds. Judy reached for her stun gun, but found Delgato's paw stopping her.

"My apologies," Delgato said, not even flinching from her outburst. "You said that... 'Bobo'... was a borrachero tree. Is that correct, ma'am?"

"Yes, officer!" Ms. Luna said, her tone instantly becoming almost grandmotherly in nature.

"Do you mind if we go outside and take a look at where he was planted?" Delgato asked. "It might lead us to some clues so we can find him."

"Go ahead!" she said, nodding vigorously. "I'll do anything if it means finding my sweet little Bobo!"

"Thank you, ma'am," Delgato said respectfully, lifting himself from the tiny couch, walking out the front door shortly afterwards, Judy following close behind. Even during the day, the Rainforest District was immersed in the shadows of the trees and walkways far above them, though it was still uncomfortably humid.

"How'd you do that?" Judy asked, walking briskly to keep up with the enormous tiger. "I mean, you calmed her down in an instant."

"Experience," Delgato said simply, stepping around a puddle of mud. "You have to be on someone's level in order to communicate with them, and if that means talking about a tree as though it were a sentient being, then that's what you have to do."

The two walked around Ms. Luna's house and discovered a rather large hole in the ground, filled with churned up soil and bits of broken root, but quite lacking in trees. "Jeez, why and how does someone steal an _entire tree?_ " Judy asked, completely bewildered by the sight.

"Beats me," Delgato shrugged. "Borrachero trees are purely for decoration, so unless this guy was a really inventive and sneaky idiot, it's probably not drug-motivated."

"Is there a black market for stolen plants or something?" Judy suggested.

"Oh yes," Delgato said dryly. "Let me tell you, those dastardly petunia smugglers are the scum of the earth."

"Ask a stupid question..." Judy sighed. She nearly jumped as her phone started buzzing in her back pocket. Quickly, she pulled it out and checked the screen, staring wide-eyed at the caller's number; it was Nick.

"Save the personal stuff for after work, Hopps," Delgato said, practically sticking his head inside the pit. "I know this isn't very exciting, but we're being paid tax-payer money for this."

"I-I'm sorry, but I _really_ need to take this call," Judy said, not even waiting for Delgato's response before she ran off to the other side of Ms. Luna's property. She answered the call, pressing her phone tightly against her ear. "Nick, is that you?" she asked tentatively.

"Hello, _Carrots_." It wasn't Nick's voice. "I apologize for remaining quiescent for so long, but I had some other matters to attend to."

"Who are you, and what have you done with Nick?" Judy demanded.

" _Ooo_ , you really don't waste any time, do you, Judy?" the voice said. "Exposing my identity so soon would just ruin the fun, but I can assure you that Nick is unharmed… for the most part, anyhow."

"Tell me where he is or I'll-!"

"Or you'll what? Sic your little friends from the station on me?" he chortled. "The instant you so much as _think_ about getting the police involved... well, I simply won't be able to guarantee Nick's continued safety. And don't even try to be covert about it either; I have eyes and ears all across this city. You can't so much as sneeze without me finding out."

"Oh, I'm _terrified_ ," Judy said, unimpressed.

"You should be," the voice said. "You should also be quite ashamed of the state your uniform's in. What kind of self-respecting officer wears their badge upside-down?"

"Nice try, but-" Judy's paw tapped at her chest. Her badge _was_ upside-down. "...what do you want?"

"You see? I'm _omniscient_ ," the voice said smugly. "Anyway, all I need right now is for you to stay quiet. You're not going to tell anyone you've spoken to me, you're not going to mention the address, Dampé, or anything else related to Maddox. Understand?"

"Yes..." Judy said begrudgingly.

"Good, good," he said. "Don't worry, we'll be finished quite shortly. As soon as Nick is released, you two will be free to joyously reunite, tearfully confess your love for one another, get married, and make a billion boxes or funnies, or whatever you call the abominations that ends up creating."

"First off, that's not even biologically possible!" Judy said. "And second, Nick and I aren't-"

"Someone's in _deni-aaal!_ " he sang.

"I swear, the second I find you-"

"Again with the threats, Judy," he yawned. "We both know you're not going to be doing anything; not while I have your precious little fox dangling above your head. So be a good little bunny and keep this between us, m'kay? I'll keep in touch. Au revoir!"

The phone hung up.

Judy slowly let her arm fall at her side, her grip tightening around it. She wasn't sure what to do. Whoever that was obviously had some way of watching her, so telling anyone was out of the question until she figured out how. As many uncertainties as there were, Judy knew one thing for sure:

She wasn't going to take this without a fight.

* * *

Maddox hadn't been lying when he said the basement's dining area was impressive. The place seemed like it had come straight out of a restaurant, complete with padded seats and wooden tables, and though it wasn't nearly as large as the warehouse upstairs, it seemed as though it could accommodate most of Maddox's followers. The theater-red walls were trimmed with gold paint and decorated with various film memorabilia and movie posters, most of which seemed to relate to Hitchcock's works.

"Not a fan of the decor, but otherwise, this is actually pretty cool," Nick said, admiring the room. "How'd you pay for it? Drug dealing? Robberies? Insurance fraud?"

"Actually, Orson donated the money for the renovations... on the condition that he was allowed to decorate it," Maddox said, staring at one of the posters with disdain.

"Drug dealing would have been a lot less sadistic," Nick said, seating himself at one of the booths.

"I'll make us some tea," Maddox said, disappearing into the double doors leading into the kitchen."This won't take long." True to his word, he appeared no more than five minutes later, carrying a tray with a kettle and teacups with him. He took a seat adjacent from Nick. "I highly recommend adding a bit of lemon and honey," he said, pouring the steaming liquid into a pair of cups. "Not only because it tastes good, but it might help with your headache."

"I don't have a headache," Nick said.

"I'm old, not blind," Maddox said, adding the ingredient's to Nick's cup despite his protest. "Drink the tea. Trust me, you'll feel better."

Nick took a careful sip of the drink. It was actually quite good. He set the cup down. "So, I couldn't help but notice that everyone here's a predator," he said. "Why is that?"

Maddox took a long drink of his tea. "Let me tell you a story..."

"Oh no..." Nick groaned. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"Back when I was a general practitioner, a young patient of mine was suffering from a very strange set of symptoms," Maddox said. "His name was Dhaari. A tiger, about eight years old, and just about the sweetest child I've ever known. He was suffering from stunted growth, fatigue, and sharp abdominal pains. His parents were absolutely beside themselves trying to figure out what was wrong."

"Still not answering my question," Nick said. "You're _really_ bad about that."

"Bear with me," Maddox said. "Now, I don't specialize in pediatrics, but the boy had specifically been referred to me by another doctor, and thus, I felt obligated to at least try. He wasn't running a fever, and blood tests came back negative for diseases with his symptoms, so I decided to run an x-ray on him. What we discovered was... quite shocking, actually."

Nick huffed in annoyance. "Alright, I'll bite; what'd you find inside the kid?"

"A parasitic twin," Maddox said, shuddering slightly. "It had been with Dhaari since birth, lodged in between his stomach and intestines, and while the two were able to coexist for quite some time, the parasite began taking a toll on its brother's body, draining away nutrients that otherwise would have been used to help him grow and develop, eventually taking so much that it slowly began killing him in the process."

Nick grimaced at the mental image, suddenly no longer in the mood for his tea.

"In order for Dhaari to survive, the twin had to be surgically removed, so I sent him and the x-ray to the hospital, and prayed that I would see him again. Thankfully, the procedure was a complete success, and Dhaari ended up making a full recovery. The twin had obviously died off as a result, but afterwards, Dhaari started to grow at a normal rate, and had the energy to run and play for the first time in months. Last I checked in on him, which was quite some time ago, I must admit, he was getting ready to graduate high school, and had a full scholarship to the Zootopia University of Medical Science."

"How was that relevant to my question?"

"It's a metaphor," Maddox said simply. "Just imagine Dhaari representing predators, and the twin representing prey."

"...I'm not following."

"How can I put this..." Maddox said, stroking his chin in thought. "You ever notice how predators are the ones who invent world-changing devices such as the smart phone? How we're the ones that take office, make differences in the world? Despite us being outnumbered ten to one, predators are the ones pushing society forward. Prey are the ones who use up the most resources, reproduce at a literally _exponential_ rate, and instead of focusing on the problems they cause, seek to oppress and discriminate against us simply because they're afraid of what we're capable of."

"I think you're generalizing a bit there," Nick said calmly, resisting the urge to choke him.

"Am I?" Maddox challenged. "Surely you remember what happened after that disaster of a press-conference?"

" _Listen here,_ " Nick growled. "Judy didn't know what she was saying. If she had known that she would have caused _mass-hysteria_ , she wouldn't have said anything!"

"It doesn't matter what her intentions were. That becomes irrelevant as soon as the consequences emerge," Maddox said. "Now, I'll fully agree that she didn't know what she was saying about our biology, but that's part of the problem." Maddox took another sip of his tea. "Don't you find it odd that the prey media didn't even question what she said? If predators had something in their genes that was causing them to go savage, why hadn't the problem surfaced before? It might have been marginally believable if one or two closely-related species encountered such a trait, but to have it surface across _every species of predator?_ Impossible! If the prey had taken but a minute to stop and think about the situation-"

"She was a officer of the law speaking at an official conference," Nick pointed out. "Of course they were going to trust what she said; nobody questions Bogo when he says you're making animals disappear into thin air!"

"But Judy isn't Bogo. Besides, she had only been on the force about four, maybe five days by that point. Wouldn't _you_ question someone so severely lacking in experience?"

Nick said nothing. He knew there were holes in Maddox's argument, but at that point the searing pain in his head was practically blinding him. He downed the rest of his tea.

"Perhaps I've been over-eager..." Maddox sighed. "You're no-doubt still suffering from that concussion, yet like an _idiot_ I dragged you along for a stupid little tour, and now I'm trying to start a debate." He sat up, taking his teacup with him. "You'll be sleeping in the barracks with the rest of the Family from now on, now that you're able to get around on your own," he said. "You'll find your name written on whatever bed you've been assigned. I'm sure everyone will be quite eager to meet you once the workday's over. In the meantime, I must get back to my work. Until next time, Nick." He gave gave a short wave and left, dropping off his dishware on the counter near the kitchen door.

Nick stared into his empty teacup, his headache intensifying, despite the area being almost completely devoid of sound.

He just wanted to go home.

* * *

 **Author's Ramblings:**

Congratulations, Finnick, you're the first character in the whole story to swear. Sure, you only got to say 'hell' while I've liberally been calling you an asshole, but good on you nonetheless.

So, this turned out a _lot_ longer than I thought it would be. Like, 3,000 words longer. Probably not going to happen often, if only because it takes so much time to write and proof-read.

Anyway, with a chapter this big, I'll be disappointed if you all don't find something to criticize; because you all care so much about the feelings of a fan-fiction author you've never met or really had any sort of interaction with, right?


	7. Chapter 7

Nick toyed with his teacup, watching the last tiny bit of liquid splash around inside. Over the past few minutes, his headache had mostly been reduced to a painless, if not somewhat uncomfortable throbbing sensation in his forehead, making it somewhat easier for him to think clearly about his long list of failures over the past day or so.

"Congrats, Wilde," he muttered. "You're injured, still have no idea where you are, and instead of arresting, attacking, or really doing _anything_ to the guy that abducted twenty-three mammals and tried to do the same to your best friend, you sat down and had tea with him." He would have given himself a round of applause if he weren't already holding the teacup. "Have to hand it to the old quack, though," he said with a laugh. "He was making it kinda' hard to hate him up until he started the speciest ranting."

He blinked, having realized what he just said. "No, he wasn't," he said staunchly. "After what he did to Judy, it's impossible not to." He stood up dramatically, despite being completely alone in the room. "And as soon as you stop talking to yourself, you're going to escape and take down that sorry sack of fleas and... and... oh boy..." Nick slumped back into his seat, suddenly feeling very dizzy. "Right. Concussion. Not ideal for revenge-plotting," he groaned, the throbbing in his skull starting to ache again. Maybe he just needed to lie down. Maddox had said something about having a place in the barracks assigned to him, and while he wasn't terribly fond of the idea of sleeping in a building occupied by an army of brainwashed cultists, or accepting any of Maddox's generous 'hospitalities', Nick figured he might be able to more effectively formulate a plan after some rest.

He rose from the table, slowly this time, abandoning his tea cup to its fate as he walked out the door and into the stairwell. Nick could still hear the activity from the main floor of the warehouse from here, thankfully muffled by the set of steel doors and layers of concrete wall at the top of the stairs. A sheet of paper taped to the wall with an up arrow labeled 'Warehouse' and a down arrow labeled 'Barracks' drawn on messily with a thick black marker left little doubt as to where Nick was supposed to go.

The stairs leading down to the second basement level were rough and uneven-looking, as if they had been chipped out of the concrete instead of molded like the ones above them. Very cautiously, he walked down the steps, nearly slipping on a loose chunk of concrete as he descended. At the bottom was a set of cheap-looking wooden doors, surrounded by a frame comprised of unpainted planks of wood, with nails haphazardly sticking out at strange angles.

Nick reached up the the doorknob, just barely managing to avoid impaling his paw on a completely unnecessary nail stuck in the door, and pushed it open with almost no effort. He was met with a wide, almost entirely empty hallway, with walls seeming to be little more than plywood that had been hastily painted white, a tiled ceiling covered in water stains and other liquids Nick couldn't immediately discern, and a bare concrete floor with chips and holes dotted across it. Some of the lights hanging above were flickering rapidly, the constant flashing starting to make Nick's head throb even more. As Nick walked down the hall, he noticed small flecks of white and yellow paint in fairly regular patterns across the floor, as if someone had tried to wash it off but didn't bother to finish the job. Some of the holes had bits of rebar embedded inside, and much like the remnants of the paint, were spaced quite evenly apart. Suddenly, Nick realized that while Maddox had spent a small country's GDP on a professional kitchen and dining room, he forced his own followers to sleep in a underground section of the _parking garage_.

"If this is how he treats his 'Family', those kidnapped mammals are probably stuck in travel carriers or something," he mused, continuing down the hall until he came across a four-way intersection. Unsure of what direction to go in, Nick stopped in his tracks and thought for a moment. Logic would suggest the barracks would be straight ahead for the sake of convenience, but considering the numerous other oddities in the place's design, it was also quite likely they were located to the right. "Left it is."

The left hallway was almost as barren as the one before, aside from a few doors that were of similar quality to the ones at the entrance. Nick tried to open them, but found that they were locked, or equally likely, jammed due to their shoddy construction. Further down, he noticed a bulletin board hanging on the wall, bordered with polka dots and various cartoon characters. He hadn't seen one decorated in such a way since grade school, and he wasn't sure whether to find it amusing or disturbing. Upon closer inspection, the board unfortunately lacked any sort of map or directory, but it did have a calendar with numerous events written down, including birthdays and movie nights, and numerous motivational posters that were poorly edited to convey anti-prey propaganda. It was at that moment Nick settled on 'disturbing'.

"It seems Hitchcock's birthday is next week. I can only imagine the 'gift' you'd like to give him."

Nick spun around, finding himself almost face-to-face with a hyena sporting an off-looking grin.

"Yeah, yeah, 'don't sneak up on me' and all that," the hyena said, his smile widening. "Can't help it. These paws of mine are marshmallow soft."

"Um... who are you?" Nick asked nervously, backing up into the wall to get some space between him and the hyena. Now that rows of sharp teeth weren't taking up the entirety of his vision, Nick noticed the hyena was rather small and thin for a member of his species, but still dwarfed Nick by a few inches.

"Oh, right. Name's Huzuni." He grabbed Nick's paw and gave a firm shake. Nick's first thoughts would have been about how incredibly soft the hyena's paw pads were if it weren't for the fact that he was experiencing intense flashbacks involving Hitchcock and his psychotic grin. "No need to introduce yourself, Mr. Wilde. Or would you prefer I call you Nick?"

Nick removed his paw from Hunzuni's grip. "Just 'Nick' is fine..."

"Nice and casual. I like it," Huzuni laughed. "Not gonna' lie, I'm a big fan of yours. Hyenas and foxes have a pretty similar reputation, and I... I..." He let out deep sigh, his expression turning somber. "I just wanted to thank you for helping to break some of those stereotypes. It means a lot. Not just to me, but a lot of folks around here. Gives them a bit of hope that things might get better, you know?"

The change in the hyena's tone took Nick off-guard; he almost even sounded sincere. "Er, thanks, it really wasn't-hold on, are you _crying?_ "

Huzuni wiped streaks of moisture from beneath his eyes, only serving to spread the tears across his face. "O-of course not!" he sniffed. "I'm just... happy to finally meet you, is all."

The old 'act like a nut then break down crying for sympathy' routine. A tried and true classic. Nick had to admit it would've worked were he a more trusting fox, but he already knew Maddox's game... though if he played along, maybe he could turn things around. These guys wanted him on their side, and if he managed to convince them he was, it would be the perfect way to dismantle the cult from the inside. Fortunately, they weren't the only ones capable of putting on a show.

"I'm... I'm touched, really," Nick said, almost instantly transitioning from his look of smug awareness, to one of humbled sympathy. "I guess I never really expected anyone to look up to me like this..." He bit his lip, hesitating for a moment. "Look, I really hate to ask you this, but do you think you could help me find where I'm supposed to be? Maddox told me I had a bed assigned to me somewhere down here, and I'm not really sure where to go..."

"Oh! Of course!" Huzuni exclaimed eagerly. "Just follow me and I'll show you to the communal bedrooms."

' _Communal bedrooms'_?! How much more third-world could this place be? "Are you sure that's not too much trouble?"

"No, no, it's the very least I could do," Huzuni said. "I was fixing to head back there myself anyway, so it's actually kind of convenient." He motioned Nick to follow him and started down the hall toward the intersection, having seemingly bought Nick's act.

Nick smirked as he trailed behind the hyena. This might be easier than he thought.

* * *

Judy slipped her phone back into her pocket. She hated to admit it, but she wasn't sure what she could do for Nick at the moment. Without knowing how she was being watched, she couldn't really do anything without it risking his life. With a frustrated sigh, she wandered back toward where Delgato was, figuring she might as well focus on her job instead of moping about. The tiger was still examining the hole where the tree once was, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Sorry for running off like that," she said sheepishly. "You find anything while I was gone?"

"It's alright," Delgado grunted. Judy could tell from his tone that he was actually fairly annoyed with her for taking the call, but he didn't seem to want to confront her about it. "Haven't gotten much, but the roots look like they were cut apart with common gardening tools, like a trowel or something," he noted. "You can tell because anything sharper would have cut more cleanly."

"That must've taken quite a while," Judy said, examining the splintered roots, some of which were nearly twice as thick as her arm. "If they finished before Ms. Luna woke up this morning, then they probably started before sundown yesterday." She knew Ms. Luna was hardly a typical bat, but it was still incredibly strange to her that she didn't abide by a nocturnal schedule.

"Probably," Delgato said. "Other than that, I haven't been able to find anything."

"No prints?"

"None that I could see," Delgato sighed, standing up. "We should spread out and search the rest of the property, just to be sure. Though to be honest, I'm not sure there's much more we can do."

There was always the possibility of turning over the case to a detective, but Judy somehow doubted that Bogo would spare any with the Maddox case still open, especially not over a missing tree, of all things. She couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Ms. Luna; sure, she was nuts, but the poor old lady seemed genuinely attached to her tree.

Judy's ears perked up at the sound of an engine traveling just in front of the house, the brakes squeaking lightly as it came to a halt. She walked around into the front yard, where a large white light van had parked in the street, a colorful flower logo painted on the side. Two lynxes hopped out of the truck, one taller and fluffier than the other, and started toward her. The smaller one walked with a bounce in her step, her outward energy and cheerfulness accentuated by her blindingly bright neon-pink tank-top. The larger of the two wore a simple white t-shirt and jeans, and unlike her bubbly companion, walked at an even pace with a stoic expression.

"Hey, Delgato?" she called. "You seeing this?"

"Yep," he said, having followed her out of curiosity. "Nothing suspicious about a gardening service showing up after we determined that gardening tools were involved in this, right?"

The lynxes walked right up to the officers, seemingly unfazed by their presence. "Hiya!" the smaller lynx said sweetly. "I'm Atria, and this is my sister Miyu!"

"S'up?" Miyu grunted.

"Can we help you two?" Judy asked, raising an eyebrow at their boldness.

"Yeah, we're Ms. Luna's gardeners!" Atria said. "We actually already worked here yesterday, but I forgot something in the back yard, so we came back to get it."

Judy and Delgato exchanged glances. It was all they needed to communicate their mutual suspicion.

"I'm afraid we can't let you do that," Judy said. "We're investigating an incident and can't let you through."

"Please, I just need to head back there for just a second!" she said, starting to walk around them.

Delgato stood in front of her, physically blocking her from moving forward. "Sorry ladies, but this is a crime scene. Official ZPD business only."

"We can just come back latter," Miyu said. "We're wasting time here."

"Can I at least go ask Ms. Luna if she's seen it?" Atria asked.

"She's probably reading a story to her ivy again," Miyu snorted. "Let's leave her alone for now and get back to business."

"Oh, hello Miyu! Hello Atty!" The group turned their heads to see Ms. Luna waddling out her front door to meet with them. "I saw your truck pull up, and wondered if something was the matter. You came by just yesterday, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but _s_ _omebody_ forgot their phone," Miyu said, glaring at her sister.

"Geez, you act you've never lost anything before," Atria pouted.

"Yeah, but I don't think I'd ever manage to lose a phone in a bright pink case covered in rhinestones," Miyu retorted.

"Oh, so that's what I found!" Ms. Luna exclaimed, summoning the aforementioned device from seemingly nowhere, her dress lacking any obvious pockets. "I found it in the flowerbed just before I called the police!"

"Thank you so much!" Atria said, eagerly taking the phone back. "Wait, why are the police here here anyway?" she asked, tilting her head quizzically.

"It's terrible! Somebody took my sweet little Bobo!" Ms. Luna wailed.

"Someone stole Bobo?!" Atria gasped.

"How tragic," Miyu said flatly.

"I know!" Ms. Luna sniffed. "There's nothing left but a hole of broken roots and shattered hearts..."

"Who would do such a thing?" Atria asked, clasping her paws over her mouth.

"What kind of idiot takes the whole tree?" Miyu asked. "Why not just take what they needed from the tree instead of spending half a day digging it up? It'd probably die in transport anyway."

Atria gave her a peculiar look. "I dunno," she said. "I think it takes a certain cleverness and dedication to steal a tree without being noticed. Taking the whole thing would also assure a constant, convenient supply of the tree's products. And for the record, trees are hardy enough to travel." Ms. Luna glared at her. "It's still terrible that they took it, though," she added quickly.

"That's what I thought," the bat muttered, wondering off.

Miyu snorted. "Even if they were, replanting a tree in another climate might kill it anyway."

"It would be easy enough to provide it with an artificial environment," Atria said, her cheerful tone just barely concealing a deep growl.

"No, it _wouldn't_ ," Miyu returned. "Not without a stupid amount of time and money, and if they had either-."

" _Ahem._ "

The two stopped their bickering and met the irritated gaze of Officer Delgato. "If you two are done, we'd like you to answer some questions..." he said sternly.

"W-why?" Atria stuttered. "We didn't do anything! We'd never hurt poor Bobo!"

"Then surely you wouldn't mind giving us some information?" Judy asked, taking note of her panicked reaction. "You are Ms. Luna's gardeners, after all, so you would know the most about the tree."

"W-well I-"

"We don't have time for this," Miyu growled. She grabbed her sister by the arm. "Come on, we need to get moving."

They turned to leave, but found themselves blocked by Ms. Luna. She glared intensely at the lynxes, but stood perfectly still, hardly even breathing.

"Ms. Luna? Is something wrong?" Atria asked.

"You left the back of truck unlocked," she said coldly. "I saw him. YOU TRAITORS!" Ms. Luna let out a blood curdling shriek, and lunged for Atria's throat.

The lynx toppled to the ground, managing to just barely keep the enraged bat from tearing her neck apart. "HELP ME!" she screamed. Before either Judy or Delgato could draw their tasers, Miyu slugged Ms. Luna in the side of the head, the blow sending the bat flying toward the other side of the yard, where she lay still.

Delgato ran toward the lynxes, genuinely concerned for their safety despite his mistrust for them. "Are you two alright?" he asked, helping Atria onto her feet. "Any bites or scratches?"

"I-I'm fine..." Atria said. "Just a bit surprised. That's all."

"That batty old hag nearly killed you!" Miyu snapped. "This is why I said we needed to go!"

"How was I supposed to know that trying to get my phone back would provoke her into trying to rip my head off?!"

"Ladies, please, can we not get into an argument over this?"

"Miyu started it!"

"How mature!"

While Delgato struggled to keep the sisters from starting their own brawl, Judy cautiously approached Ms. Luna, ready to draw her taser if needed. "Ms. Luna?" she asked. "Are you hurt?"

The bat let out a ragged gasp as she struggled to stand up, only to fall back down again. "M-my Bobo!" she said weakly, staring desperately at Judy. "They took him! He's in the back! I saw him!"

"It'll be okay," Judy said gently. "I'll look for him myself, alright?"

"Thank you..." she sighed, laying her head down again.

Judy called in an ambulance for Ms. Luna, but figured that trying to cuff her would only worsen her condition, so she left her laying on the grass. Even though she knew that the bat was downright insane, she must have saw something to cause her to turn so violent. What if there _was_ something in the lynxes' truck? Delgato and her had suspected that they had something to do with the theft anyway, so maybe it was worth taking a look. Judy walked around the truck, making sure not to be noticed by the lynxes as they tried to claw out each other's eyes, with only Delgato's arm length keeping them apart.

The truck's back door was slightly ajar, a sweet floral scent drifting from within. Judy peered inside, the opening providing enough light inside to make out a medium-sized tree with white, trumpet-like flowers laying on its side; a borrachero specimen matching Ms. Luna's description of her tree perfectly.

"I knew it!" she shouted. "Delgato, they have the tree!"

"What?!" Delgato gave up on breaking up the fight and ran over to the truck. The lynxes immediately gave chase, completely abandoning their quarrel with each other.

Judy opened the door fully, and presented the tree to Delgato. "See? Just like how Ms. Luna described it."

"Care to explain this?" he growled at the lynxes.

Atria fidgeted like a child with her paw caught in the cookie jar. "Um, well you see..."

"You got us," Miyu sighed. "There's no denying it; we took the tree."

"M-Miyu?!" Atria stammered.

"Glad you're making this easy," Delgato muttered, pulling out a pair of cuffs. "You're under arrest for-"

"Yeah, about that... It's not gonna happen, handsome." Miyu punched Delgato in the jaw, the blow barely making the tiger flinch. He grabbed her by the arm and pinned her the ground, visibly restraining himself from beating the her to a pulp. "Atty! Now!"

"For the record, I'm really, _really_ sorry for this..." She threw some sort of white powder into Delgato's eyes, and the tiger let out a roar of pain, letting go of Miyu as he covered his eyes. Miyu made a mad dash for the driver's seat, but before Atria could follow, Judy jumped up and kicked her in the gut, the force sending her stumbling backwards. "Little less sorry for this!" she snarled, recovering remarkably fast and slashing at Judy with her claws. Judy swiftly dodged and tried for another kick, but Atria grabbed her by the foot and threw her at Delgato, sending both of them to the ground.

"Atty, get in the truck! Move it!" Miyu shouted, the engines roaring to life. "The Father's going to kill us for this, you know!"

Atria sped off before Judy would get out from underneath Delgato, who had gone limp the moment Judy impacted with him, pinning her arm beneath his massive body. "They're getting away!" she said, shaking the tiger as the truck started to drive out of view. He didn't respond. "Delgato?! Answer me!"

"Hi, Judy," Delgato slurred.

"C'mon big guy, get up!" she said, still struggling beneath his weight. "We can still catch them if we hurry!" He slowly rose to his feet, freeing Judy and allowing her to run for the cruiser. She grabbed the radio speaker and started the engine. "This is Officer Hopps! We've got a code-" She stopped as soon as she realized Delgato hadn't followed her. He merely stood where she left him with a vacant stare. "What are you doing?!" she snapped. "Get in!"

Delgato shambled over to the passenger side, opened the door, and sat down without a word. He stared out the front windshield, acting as if Judy wasn't there at all.

"Delgato? Are you alright?" She snapped her fingers in front of his face. He didn't even blink. "Oh sweet cheese and crackers..."

* * *

 **Author's Ramblings:**

This chapter sure took a while, huh? Blame _Overwatch._

Also, it seems I've hit the 50 follower mark, and that's pretty freaking awesome. Means I'm doing _something_ right. Whatever it is, it's sure as hell isn't the upload schedule.

Because of the 50 follower milestone, I'd like to thank fellow authors _Berserker88_ and _PresidentStalkeyes_ for their support and feedback over the past few weeks via the TV Tropes forums and this site. They've been a huge help and inspiration to me, and without them I probably would not have improved as much I have, or even have gotten this far into the story. I would highly, highly recommend checking out their respective fics, _Born to be Wilde_ and _BvB: Butting Heads._ Both are really interesting and well-written stories, so if you're looking for stuff outside the 90% of Sturgeon's Law, you will not be disappointed.


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